Found a bull today and back after him tomorrow

[McCaslin]

Day 1 of my buddy and my DIY CO trip today. Yesterday we flew from NC to CO. Today I woke at 0230(too excited to sleep) and we hit the trail early. Got a bull to respond to location bugle in the dark but he was a long way off. Didn't find the elk where they were last year(about an hour from trailhead) so we kept moving up in direction of bugle. Finally after 3 hours of uphilling I saw the bull with several cows crossing high open bowl to highest dark timber in bowl to bedding around 12000 feet elevation. That was about 0800. We climbed up to where they entered dark timber but decided not to go in after them. It is small triangle maybe 5-10 acre patch. Wind was getting swirly and we spent rest of morning bactrailing to trailhead. He only answered my earliest location bugle and ignored several other attempts to locate him both in the dark and between 6 and 7. My plan tomorrow is to get up earlier and get to the dark timber where they bedded at daybreak or close thereafter and see if we can catch the herd coming to bed. Probably won't call at first unless they are not coming our way then I would probably try some cow calls or possibly a version of threat depending on their mood. The good news about finding this bull is that he is far enough back that I don't think we have to worry about competition from other hunters. The bad news is he is pretty far back and high.

If I can get a bull this week it will be my first(got my first elk a cow last year). Any other thoughts or advice?

We were in some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen on planet earth...yet another reason to love elk hunting.

[bnsafe]

good luck, sounds like a plan.

[dreamhunter]

Keep your eye on the prize and that will keep you going the distance. If back up and high is where he is then go get em. Can't wait to hear about it and see the pics and hear about the struggle to get em out.